Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone) is an aspiring writer in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963 in the middle of the civil rights movement. She is writing a column giving household hints, but she has an idea of writing a book based upon the recollections and stories of her maid, looking at the life of a black woman working for a white family. As time goes by, more and more of the maids risk their very lives by talking to her and telling their thoughts and feelings, and the extreme hardships they had to go through every day. The times were changing around them, yet they became caught up in the change, as the book showing the dark side of life in the south became a bit hit.

Based on a real book, this is a very touching film. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything from the opposite viewpoint, of what it was like to be on the other side of the fence. These ladies raised white children while their own were being kept by someone else. They could have been filled with hatred and despised their “employers” but due to deep religious beliefs taught the children as best they could and tried to teach the children values in spite of their parents. Then the children would grow up and become just like their parents. It must have been difficult to watch. It’s good to realize that not all people carried the racist views from the hurt of the Civil War through generation after generation. There are good and bad people of all classes and colors and races. But it is a shame that these people had to live through the kind of treatment they were often exposed to. I really enjoyed this film. It was thoughtfully filmed and very touching. It has a great story and is well worth watching. There is a good reason it did very well in the theaters because it is a stunning film. It’s definitely worth renting if you haven’t had the opportunity to see it yet. Emma Stone was wonderful in her role, as were all the other characters. Sissy Spacek was a really good addition to the film, even though she had a really unusual role. All in all, this is a really good film. It’s a little long at 146 minutes, but it flies by and this is a film that ought to be on everybody’s watch list. If you haven’t caught it, you should.

This documentary, based on Sarah’s book, “Going Rogue” is a biography of Sarah Palin from her childhood up to the point where she ran for Vice President of the United States with John McCain. It covers here attack on the established Republican leaders in Alaska and her years fighting the big petroleum companies, the sudden vicious attacks on her, and the true cause of why she was forced to resign as Governor before the end of her term. It shows why she is the most admired and hated woman in America.

I am really glad this DVD came out. I have heard complaints about how the mainstream media have refused to cover some stories, and completely twisted and blew others out of proportion. A good example is a current event where some nut who hung out with the Occupy crowd took some shots at the White House. This has been kept so much on the down low, and even the President has spoken out that there is absolutely no connection between him and any known radical group. At the same time, we’ve been told daily that Sarah Palin is personally responsible for the shooting of Gabriel Giffords in Arizona when we know absolutely that he had no connection with any conservative organization at all. But the point is, both of these shooters are nuts. But why are we going so far to prove one connection and the lack of one in the other case.

I knew Sarah Palin was hated and despised. But I remember the same kind of personal and hurtful attacks on Ronald Reagan for the same reasons. Attempts were made to convince everyone that she was stupid and incompetent and in way over her head and even dangerous to the US. However, we would likely be far better off today if she had been the Presidential candidate and won rather than the other two guys.

Granted, this is definitely one side of the story, but from the amazing accomplishments she has made working with the democrats, and fighting the established Republican party in Alaska, she was the inspiration for the Tea Party movement before it even existed. Her vision that the “good old boys” who rubber stamped everything was bad for the state, and her experience in the energy department made her decide she had to fight the establishment and the oil companies. The Exxon Valdez spill was the catalyst that made her take the path she did.

I never could find out the reason why she quit early as Governor of Alaska before her term ended. I found the reason in this documentary. There was a logical and reasonable cause that forced her into this decision. It is a quirk in the Alaska law, and an organized attack to get rid of her. I figured there had to be a reasonable explanation, but something we never got from the mainstream media.

This is Sarah’s story, and though I’ve never been a fan of hers (she came out of nowhere to me too!), I have gained an appreciation for why she was chosen and what her accomplishments really were. The first 20 minutes of this film is something everyone should see to know what kind of people we have feeding us the news. It’s despicable that they could say the things they did about anyone at all. A very good film, and brought me greater understanding of the real person.

As a side note. It’s interesting that this film is out almost two months, and the only reference to it in IMDB is “Untitled Sarah Palin Documentary” with no information about it whatsoever. I can’t believe that’s just a coincidence.

Young girl Cataleya (Zoe Saldana) watched as her whole family was assassinated by a cold blooded drug warlord. She was the only one spared, so she spent her life preparing to get revenge. She had evidence from her father that bought her a trip to the US to stay with her Uncle who granted her wish to be trained as a killer. When she got older, she spent her days as a hit man for her Uncle, but in her spare time, she searched for the one who killed her family.

This is a movie with very little story. It’s just a revenge, drug cartel, murder and payback film to the nth degree. Zoe is a bad ass stone cold killer, for sure, but there’s nothing much else going on here at all. If you’re a fan of murder/assassin/ninja killer movies, then this probably has all you need, but for me I would like a little story with my film, please.

This has been a hard week for new DVD releases. Larry Crowne was a disappointment. Then Straw Dogs was a pale remake of the great original, now this one, Columbiana. Three new movies this week that all should have been good and all were disappointments. I agree that Zoe did exactly what she was supposed to do, kill without remorse, revenge at all costs. She handled the physical portion just fine. But there’s no real heart here. What do you do when you finally get revenge? If there’s nothing else in your life, then I guess it’s over at that point. How sad for her.

If you’re a fan of violence, violence, and move violence without the distraction of any substance in the film, then for goodness sake, watch this. But if you’re looking for something with a little more substance, this is a hollow piece of work.

This is an artistic film, with huge ambition. There are tons of very visually stunning scenes, that appear unrelated, then we alternate from scenes from a grown man, Jack(Sean Penn), who is alone, reminiscing on his childhood,and his relationship between him and his siblings, and his father (Brad Pitt) who is very strict, a realist, and wants to raise tough manly sons, so he is quite a bit cruel and abusive, while still seeking strength from his boys, and a mother (Jessica Chastain) who is a dreamer, and still with a childlike innocence. Jack is trying to seek meaning in life and is trying to find a way somewhere in between mother and father.

This is definitely a “zero star” or “ten star” film. It seems to be split between lovers and haters. The problem with the film is that it’s perhaps overly symbolic, and nothing much goes on. The first 40 minutes or so of the film is just imagery of the creation of the universe, dueling dinosaurs, deserts, fish, etc, that look really great, but there is no real purpose. (Ok, that’s not true, there is a “meaning of life” type purpose I’m sure, but everyone has to sit through this beautiful imagery with no story part before the film even begins, and many people, I’m sure, walked out before the story began.)

Then when the story begins, we are barraged with little snippets of of conversations and moments that seem random. What do we know? Well, we know that one of the brothers died when he was 19, and none of them really got over it. Yes, I get that we’re viewing grown up Jack’s memories, and memories are fragmented, but movies typically tell a story, which this one really doesn’t. When we finally figure out what’s going on, suddenly we’re thrown back in the visual imagery with people walking around on a beach. The ending FINALLY comes up (after 2 hours and 15 minutes) and there’s absolutely no ending that I can see.

I can truly understand the people who love this film. It’s poetic, visually stunning, and you can make anything you want out of it. In fact, one guy made the comment that you see what you take in with you. If you’re looking for a Christian movie, it’s a Christian movie. Like wise if you’re Hindu or a nature lover, or a relationship councilor, that’s what you get out of it. Since the film starts with a quote from the book of Job in the Bible, I think that’s a hint to what the movie maker meant. In the quote, Job is question how God could allow all this bad stuff to happen to him, and God is answering that Job does not understand the scope of the creation of the galaxy, and the immensity of the universe and that Job is just a small speck in the scheme of things. Perhaps, that’s what he was going for. To show us, that Jack’s life, as difficult as it may have been for him, was just a small part compared to the history of the Universe. Likewise, I could be completely off my rocker and it’s about circus clowns. Who knows.

I did not rate this very high on my rating scale because I was really fidgeting an bored through the first 45 minutes. This is one movie I really, really, really wanted to turn off. But in order to review it, I have to watch it, so I forged through. Then when the story of the 1950’s family began, finally, I started to get interested and thought there might be a story in there finally. But I was disappointed again, as I didn’t get any meat out of it. It was like watching the Cliff Notes version of a story. Then more strange images and it was done. It felt like 10 hours instead of 2 1/4 and I certainly wouldn’t want to go through it again to see what I missed. But I know tons of people are going to love this.

It’s been compared frequently to 2001 A Space Odyssey, which I can see the comparison. 2001 was a film that did not give you any answers either, and you can bring whatever you want out of it. But 2001 I would rate as a 5 star film because though it was artistic and mystical, it had a great story in it. The “thought inducing” parts of what was the bigger meaning of the movie was an add on to the great story and a benefit that kept us talking about it for months and years afterwards. This doesn’t have the same kind of story to pique your interest. After this one is over I just felt used and ripped off.

Cate Dove (Shannen Doherty) is a common thief. The burgler, break-into-your-home kind of thief. But when her latest heist goes bad, she high tails it to Connecticut to her hometown to hide out a while. She’s tasked to babysit her niece and nephew until the parents can get home for Christmas, which seems like a good way to hide out. While there, she spends her time planning revenge on Clive (Conrad Coates) her former partner who double crossed her until she finally finds some Christmas spirit and is able to turn her life around.

Shannen Doherty is not awful in this film. I think a lot of people wanted her to be. But she’s not great either. This is a somewhat familiar story, of a crook who gets in a bit too deep, hiding out from the cops and from those who want to steal what she has, finding value in family and wishing to change her life around, but not being able to because she gets pulled back it. It’s a pretty simple concept, two sisters, one good and one bad. The good one got married and had kids, the bad one became an outlaw. There isn’t enough uniqueness to this film to make it very worthwhile. It’s ok, just to pass the time, but I’m not sure why they keep bringing this back. It was ok in 2007, but I don’t think it’s good enough for repeated viewings. Perhaps it’s because it’s an ABC Family movie, and they have to fill up 25 days, and like to use a lot of their own stuff. This one ought to be retired. It’s not horrible if you’ve not seen it before or if you’re a Shannen fan, but let’s not bring this one back next year, ok?